Indonesia’s Monetary Companies Authority (OJK) reported that roughly 72% of licensed crypto exchanges within the nation remained unprofitable as of the tip of 2025, even because the variety of crypto customers surpassed 20 million.
The figures spotlight a structural problem: a booming consumer base that more and more prefers abroad platforms, leaving home exchanges struggling to compete.
Indonesia’s Value and Liquidity Hole
In accordance with OJK knowledge cited by native media, the entire worth of crypto transactions fell to IDR 482.23 trillion (~$30 billion) in 2025, down from IDR 650 trillion in 2024. OJK attributed this to Indonesian buyers more and more buying and selling by regional and international platforms fairly than home exchanges.
Indodax CEO William Sutanto stated the outflow stems from merchants looking for extra aggressive situations overseas.
“The variety of crypto customers in Indonesia is already giant, however home transaction worth isn’t optimum as a result of a lot of the exercise flows into the worldwide ecosystem. The market will search for locations with extra environment friendly execution and aggressive prices,” Sutanto stated.
He pointed to an uneven taking part in discipline: home exchanges bear tax and compliance burdens that international platforms serving Indonesian customers don’t face. Indonesian buyers can nonetheless entry abroad exchanges through VPN, with deposits processed by native banks.
“Overseas exchanges don’t have the identical tax and compliance burdens as home gamers, however they will nonetheless be accessed by Indonesian buyers,” Sutanto famous.
Indonesian crypto customers talking to BeInCrypto cited a number of causes for preferring abroad platforms: decrease prices, sooner withdrawals, and lingering safety considerations after Indodax’s 2024 hack. “Native exchanges ask for a lot paperwork for withdrawals over $1,000. With P2P on international exchanges, it takes lower than a minute,” one consumer stated.
Structural Pressures
The Indonesian crypto market underwent a significant regulatory shift on January 10, 2025, when oversight transferred from the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Regulatory Company (Bappebti) to OJK. The regulator moved to interrupt up the earlier single-exchange construction by issuing new licenses. Nonetheless, with 29 licensed exchanges now competing for a restricted home market, profitability pressures have intensified.
Including to the strain, international gamers are coming into the market straight. Robinhood introduced plans in December to amass Indonesian brokerage PT Buana Capital Sekuritas and licensed crypto dealer PT Pedagang Aset Kripto.
Bybit additionally introduced a strategic partnership with the native platform NOBI to launch Bybit Indonesia, whereas Binance already operates in Indonesia by its subsidiary, Tokocrypto. The inflow of well-capitalized international rivals is intensifying strain on home exchanges, that are already battling skinny margins.
Past licensed international rivals, unlicensed platforms additionally drain the market. They’re estimated to price Indonesia $70–110 million in misplaced tax income yearly.
Belief Considerations for Indonesian Exchanges
The challenges come as Indodax itself faces scrutiny. OJK is at the moment investigating stories of roughly IDR 600 million in lacking buyer funds. Whereas Indodax has attributed the losses to exterior elements equivalent to phishing and social engineering fairly than system breaches, the case highlights the belief points home exchanges should overcome to retain customers.
Sutanto known as for constant enforcement towards unlawful international platforms alongside efforts to construct a more healthy home ecosystem, including that collaboration between regulators and trade gamers is vital.
